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Are we on the verge of global rupture? Or is the increased coerciveness of states and endless wars the fate of intensifying globalization? Join global experts as they discuss these pressing questions.

Professor Manfred Steger will present 'America’s Pacific Century and the Global Imaginary'.

Global Frictions: A Seminar Series hosted by the Centre for Global Research presents a special event ‘Rupture and Connection in a Global Age’, featuring Professor Manfred B Steger (RMIT), Associate Professor James Goodman (UTS) and Associate Professor Chris Hudson (RMIT).

Discussion convened by Professor Supriya Singh (RMIT).

Abstract: The world is fast approaching a critical point of disjuncture in relations between the major powers, not least between the US, Russia and China, driven by the power rivalries of the ‘old order’ of nation-states. At the same time, across the globe vastly different movements organise via alternative dynamics that affect the lives of civilians as surveillance and securitizing agendas recalibrate both compliance and contestation. Accompanying these developments is the increasing globalization of culture. Ulrich Beck has argued that there is ‘a new kind of capitalism, a new kind of economy, a new kind of global order, a new kind of personal life coming into being, all of which differ from earlier phases of social development’. With these issues in mind we consider the following questions: Are we on the verge of global rupture triggered by the power shifts across and between states and movements? Is the increased coerciveness of the state, and attempts to control the ‘margins’, an inevitable outcome of this period of intensifying globalization? How is the understanding of new cultural connections and the imagination of life with a global span made possible at the level of everyday social practices?

In addition to an engaging discussion, this event will celebrate the many achievements and considerable contributions of Professor Manfred B Steger, who, after ten-years is departing RMIT.